Cl22 is an introduction to interpersonal communication, examined from
the intersecting perspectives of performance, power, and identity.
Performance highlights our central concern with the practice of
interpersonal communication in the conduct of social life, through
which the most resonant symbols and beliefs of a society are embodied,
enacted, and placed on display. You and your classmates will be asked
to become ethnographers of interpersonal everyday conversation. You
will observe and analyze interpersonal interactions in your own lives
in the light of an array of communication concepts and theories. In
the end, we will encourage you not only to analyze others'
communication, but also to use the theoretical principles you learn to
become more aware of how your interpersonal interactions with others
are connected to broader questions of power and social identity.